The Mid-term meeting of the BRICS Business Council took place on March 31, 2017 in New Delhi, India. The meeting involved deliberations on the progress made by the seven working groups on the agenda set forth during the Annual Meeting of the Council on October 14-15, 2016.

With this Mid-term meeting, the tenure of Indian Presidency of BRICS Business Council came to an end and Chinese chapter formally took over the Presidency of the BRICS Business Council.

Following the deliberations during today’s meetings, the members of the BRICS Business Council have agreed on the following points.

There are signs of gradual recovery in the global economy, but uncertainties loom and could weaken the growth path. There are also headwinds of protectionism gaining momentum, which could disrupt the growth in global trade and investments. BRICS Business Council believes that intra-BRICS co-operation is vital to promote shared economic interests and facilitate sustained development of its economies.

We are encouraged by the developments taking place at the level of our respective authorities towards enhanced BRICS co-operation. We welcome the conclusion of the negotiations of the bilateral Social Security Agreement and the Cooperation and Facilitation Investment Agreement between India and Brazil. We look forward to more such agreements amongst BRICS countries, as these will have positive implications on business fraternity and further enhance investment flows between BRICS countries.

We are heartened to note the progress with respect to specific recommendations made by the BRICS Business Council in its third Annual Report presented during the 8th BRICS Summit in Goa.

We appreciate the progress made with respect to the deliberations amongst members of the Expert Group on the BRICS Rating Agency and agree to carry forward the discussions to arrive at practical solutions for setting up a BRICS Rating Agency on market oriented principles.

We agree to continue deliberations with respect to the New International Payment Card System for BRICS to promote settlements of international transactions in national currencies.

We are heartened to note the proposal of New Development Bank to set up a Project Preparation Facility that will be open to all member countries. We look forward to greater interaction with the New Development Bank with respect to financing of projects in priority areas, and development of sector-specific funds in areas like skills, energy, and agri-business.

We have noted with interest the proposal made by the Skills Development Working Group to set up a BRICS Skill Governance Body to oversee the skill development for labour force in BRICS nations, including co-ordinating with various skill development bodies and facilitating cross-sharing of learnings and challenges faced in skill development by the BRICS countries.

We also acknowledge the suggestions of the Agri-Business Working Group to to foster agri-food and biofuels trade and investments and enhancing co-operation by sharing best practices related to sustainable agriculture production, productivity, environment protection and food security and contributing towards research activities in these areas.

We remain committed to enhance the intra-BRICS trade and investments. We urge the government to continue their efforts towards ease of doing business and trade facilitation initiatives to promote private sector trade and investment flows in the BRICS countries.

We agree to carry forward the agenda of the seven working groups of the Council namely Infrastructure, Financials Services, Skill Development, Manufacturing, Energy, Agri-business and De-regulation. We welcome new ideas and proposals to further enhance intra-BRICS business co-operation for higher growth and sustained development of our economies.

The BRICS Business Council members from Brazil, Russia, China and South Africa thank Onkar S Kanwar and the Indian chapter for an exemplary execution of Council activities over last year. The Council members from India, Brazil, Russia and South Africa congratulate Capt. XU Lirong and the Chinese chapter for taking over the Presidency of BRICS Business Council and commit full support and co-operation for all the Council activities in the ensuing year. Members of the BRICS Business Council also look forward to the forthcoming meetings in Shanghai and Xiamen later this year.

About BRICS Business Council

The BRICS Business Council was established with the objective of pursuing common interests of BRICS nations to promote mutual trade and investments among the member countries.

The Mid-term meeting of BRICS Business Council on March 31, 2017 was chaired by Mr. Onkar S Kanwar, Chairman of the Indian BRICS Business Council and Chairman – Apollo Tyres. Chairpersons of National Chapters of other BRICS Countries who were present in the meeting were – Mr. Vladimir Dmitriev, Nominated Chairman of Russian BRICS Business Council and Vice President – CCI of Russian Federation; Mr. José Rubens de La Rosa, Chairman of Brazil BRICS Business Council and Advisor – Marcopolo; Capt. XU Lirong, Chairman of China BRICS Business Council and Chairman – COSCO SHIPPING; and Dr. Iqbal Surve, Chairman of South African BRICS Business Council and Founder & Chairman – Sekunjalo Investments Group.